Saturday, April 12, 2008

Thunder Cake

My daughter and I have been doing "pre-school" lessons together. This week, the sound was "th" and the theme was thunder. While reading "Thunder Cake" by Patricia Polacco about a grandmother who helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunder, we found a fun recipe to try. This is a rich, chocolaty cake with a somewhat random secret ingredient (tomatoes). We mixed it up today and tried it out. The only thing we were missing were some fresh strawberries. Instead I flaked dark chocolate on the top. Mmmmmm. I've added the recipe below, but I thoroughly recommend getting the book to read the story, too.

Grandma's Thunder Cake

Cream together, one at a time
1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, separated (Blend yolds in. Beat whites until they are stiff, then fold in.)
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes

Sift together
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the dry mixture into the creamy mixture.
Bake in two greased and floured 8 1/2-inch round pans at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Frost with chocolate butter frosting and top with strawberries.

4 comments:

Ant said...

Wonderful! Looks like you two had fun!

Tarasview said...

Can you taste the tomatoes? The cake sure looks yummy.

by the way, my name is Tara Robertson too. Funny eh?

Anonymous said...
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Tara said...

Tara, oddly enough, you can't taste the tomato at all. I think it's just supposed to add moisture, like putting applesauce in cake mixes.

I sure like your name! :)